Man teaches mice to skateboard

An Australian man who achieved worldwide fame by teaching his pet mice to surf has now trained them to ride skateboards.

Shane Willmott has built a mouse-sized skate park in the backyard of his Gold Coast home where his mice 'drop the vert ramp' and get airborne on mouse-sized toy skateboards.

The furry daredevils even fly through a ring of fire.

Mr Willmott, who has been training mice to surf for about 10 years, said he decided to teach them to skate because it was too cold in winter to take them to the beach.

"They love it," he said. "Mice are built to surf and skate because their centre of gravity is so low. When they do fall off, they want to get straight back on board."

http://web.orange.co.uk/article/quirkies/Man_teaches_mice_to_skateboard

Man trains tigers to attack him

Animal trainer Randy Miller reckons he's the only man in the world who can withstand a full-scale assault by a 400lb tiger.

Mr Miller, 45, has trained big cat Eden to leap 15 feet and pile-drive him into the ground in an inch-perfect fake tiger attack.

But it's all revealed to be part of their purr-fect double act - as Mr Miller, who trains animals for movies, walks away unharmed.

"If a stranger tried to do this, they would get seriously injured, mauled or even killed," he said.

The father-of-two rears his animals from birth and uses his lifelong bond with them to achieve wild things on the big screen.

At his special training facility in Big Bear, California, he has trained amazing creatures for roles in Transformers 2, The Last Samurai and many other big-screen productions.

"I like using Eden for the staged attack because she comes at me so fast and hits hard, so it's very convincing," he said.

"She's dependable and knows what she's doing, but you still need to be cautious and play your role."

The expert handler's act with predators is so convincing it landed him a top stunt award for his work on Russell Crowe blockbuster Gladiator.

They superimposed Crowe's face onto Randy for a famous scene when main character Maximus was attacked by one of Miller's tigers, Tara, 18, in a Colosseum battle.

http://web.orange.co.uk/article/quirkies/Man_trains_tigers_to_attack_him

Erasmus the Soccer Playing Fish (Video)

A woman has spent the last 2 months training her fish to play... soccer?

In the video below Ilana Bram explains how she managed to train her pet fish Erasmus to, among other things, boot a soccer ball (football?) swim through rings and do a limbo dance. Apparently, it's a very rare feat, since most aquarium fish are not exactly known for their brain power.

But, Ilana Bram doesn't mind putting in the hours and, over the last few months, the training has paid off.

Erasmus is a popular kind of aquarium fish, known as the Pseudotropheus Socolofi Cichlid (or just Cichlid for short) famous for getting along with other, different breeds of their own size. Smaller fish beware, however, as this one is of the same family as the Oscar, a voracious, cannibalistic fish very popular with aqua-nuts.

In the video, Erasmus is all alone as Bram puts him (her? how does one tell???) through the paces, first pushing a soccer ball over a ridge, then swimming through various sized hoops, even catching one with its snout, before diving under a limbo pole as the finale.

It's no dolphin show, but, it's still entertaining and quite amazing. Apparently, some people can do this for hours.

At the end, there's always a treat, and that's what you're in for after clicking the link below.

Check it out:

youtu.be/vv7G_EuY7zc

http://www.bubblews.com/news/522725-erasmus-the-soccer-playing-fish-video

Rat detect land mines after special sniffing training

There's a saying about being able to smell a rat - but no longer. Now the much maligned rodent is turning the tables and is ratting out land mines.



Giant African pouched rats are being trained to identify the scent of explosives in landmines

They have an acute sense of smell and are small enough not to detonate the mines. Every time they detect TNT, they make a clicking sound and receive a bit of banana as a reward.

They are being trained by Belgian charity Apopo in Tanzania.

‘You have to be patient. Sometimes I get frustrated but then again I tell myself these are animals,’ said trainer Abdullah Mchomvu.

A team of two rats can clear a 200sq m (2,150sq ft) minefield in two hours rather than the day it takes humans.

Other rats are being trained to sniff out TB in laboratory sputum samples.

Read more: http://www.metro.co.uk/weird/846552-rats-detect-land-mines-after-special-sniffing-training#ixzz14nBrkOlq

Peaceful co-existence

RIGHT: Host Dave Salmoni will take viewers on a daring mission to learn if man and beast can co-exist in Into the Lion’s Den. The two-hour special premieres on Sat, March 20 at 9pm on TrueVisions D21.

Published: 12/03/2010 at 12:00 AM

Zoologist and big cat trainer Dave Salmoni is on a mission to prove that humans can live in harmony with wild lions.

This month, Animal Planet goes into the lion's den with Dave as he spends three months deep within the no-go zone of a pride of wild lions in South Africa - armed with only a stick and a miniature camera.

Will his daring mission help remove the barrier between man and beast, or will he fall prey to these magnificent predators? The two-hour special Into the Lion's Den premieres Sat, March 20 at 9pm and repeats the following day at 3am and 4pm, and Sat, March 27 at 1pm on Animal Planet.

Dave believes that with people encroaching on the natural habitats of wild animals, conflicts are inevitable and that there needs to be a change in how humans interact with other species.

To better understand how we can harmoniously co-exist, Dave intends to carry out a radical and dangerous experiment - living with lions in the wild.

As a big cat trainer, Dave knows that every sound and movement a cat makes tells him how it is going to behave.

So, to prepare for his mission, Dave undergoes rigorous training with big cats such as jaguars, tigers, and lions in captivity, immersing himself in their behavioural patterns and honing his communication skills with these animals.

With this knowledge and zoological expertise, Dave heads to the Thornybush Private Game Reserve in South Africa to carry out his experiment.

Every precaution is taken for his safety, with a team of paramedics and rangers watching him from afar prepared for every possible emergency situation.

http://www.bangkokpost.com/entertainment/movie/34351/peaceful-co-existence

Tigers chase zoo keepers into pool

A tiger plays in the pool in its enclosure at the Out of Africa Wildlife Park in Camp Verde, Arizona. Photo: Kathleen Reeder / Solent News & Photo Agency

On first glance, it appears as if a group of unsuspecting swimmers are about to become a tiger's lunch.

Published: 7:30AM GMT 05 Mar 2010

But despite appearances, the picture actually shows the animal playing with zoo keepers in a pool.

Used to human contact, the tigers play a harmless game of chase with their trainers around the pool edge before diving into the water.

Although they look ferocious, the animals don't protract their claws, so no harm comes to their trainers as they tussle in the water.

The game involving six Bengal and Siberian tigers has become a popular attraction at the Africa Wildlife Park, in Camp Verde, Arizona, in the US.

Kathleen Reeder, 52, a wildlife photographer who captured the images, said: "The show starts with about three to five keepers coming into the pool area with the tigers.

"The tigers walk and run around the pool area, showing love and affection for their keepers by rubbing up against them just like a house cat rubs against their owner.

"The keeper then runs around the pool area getting the tigers' attention.

"It's like playing with your house cat with a toy. You wave the toy in front of the cat to get the cat to chase it.

"The keepers want the tigers to chase them, when they have the tiger's attention they will run, dive or jump into the pool.

"Most of the time the tigers will jump in right after them.

"These tigers love their keepers so they don't protract their claws when chasing or when jumping into the water.

"There will always be two keepers in the water to make sure that things don't get out of hand.

"They know what to do to appropriately handle the tigers in the water, no one gets hurt."

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/wildlife/7366826/Tigers-chase-zoo-keepers-into-pool.html

Pigeons trained as art critics

Racing pigeons can be trained to study paintings and evaluate them like a critic, according to scientists.A study in Japan offered pigeons food as an incentive to study the colour, pattern and texture of paintings, reports the Daily Mail.

First, four pigeons were placed in a chamber with a computer monitor displaying watercolour and pastel paintings by schoolchildren.

The paintings were divided into 'good' and 'bad' categories by 11 adults, including an art teacher, depending on whether the images were clear and precise.

The pigeons were shown some of the paintings from each category and rewarded with food when they pecked at the good pictures, but not the bad ones.

They were then presented with a mixture of new and old paintings from both categories and the researchers noted the birds consistently pecked at the 'good' paintings more often.

However, when they were presented with monochrome paintings, they were no longer able to distinguish between the paintings, indicating that they use colour to discriminate.

The second experiment looked at eight new pigeons, which were trained to recognise the paintings' texture - four were trained to peck at watercolours and four at pastels.

Professor Shigeru Watanabe, of Keio University, said: "This research does not deal with advanced artistic judgments, but it shows pigeons are able to acquire the ability to judge beauty similar to that of humans."

http://www.ananova.com/news/story/sm_3387020.html?menu=news.quirkies